Reply To: Legends About Queen Katarina

In one section of the book on Katarina entitled “The Good Fairy Is Pacing through Bosnia”, Dubravko Horvatić noted a legend similar to the one presented by the nobleman Vladimir Alaupović:

In the fall of 1446 in a region between Zgošće, Sutiska, and Vareš, beside the Trstivnica and Stavnja rivers, there were rumors about the appearance of a good fairy. Dressed in white attire with gilded embroidery and covered in white fur, she was riding an untamed white horse. Shepherds talked about this after coming back to the village. They said she suddenly appeared from the forest as if sprouting from the ground; they were unable to run off and simply stayed, dumbfounded, where they were. The fairy came to the shepherds on horseback, inquiring about them and the situation in their houses. She wanted to know if the household members prepared enough food for the winter and whether or not they had enough hay for their cattle. She inquired about the harvest and crops, and about the diseases present among humans and cattle. In the end, she gave all of them some sweets that even the King had never tasted.

In addition, Horvatić mentioned that children’s stories were confirmed by a certain old lady, who saw a fairy burst before her while she was carrying wood from the forest. The old lady talked of how one of her sons died while the King tried to defeat the invading Turks and her second son went to the seaside to try to earn some money. All of her daughters, on the other hand, married, so she is living alone. After setting out to one village, a fairy slipped a golden coin into the old lady’s hand and left. One day that same fairy appeared at the blacksmith shops on the river Stavnja, stopping at the shop of blacksmith Paul, asking him to shoe her horse. In the meantime, she asked him how blacksmiths live and in what way water helps them to run their shops. After Paul shod the horse, the fairy gave him a large sum of money.[hr]

One legend recorded by Friar Ignjacije Strukić pertains to Katarina’s stay inside the Kreševo fortress at Bedem, where King Tomaš and she resided before the arrival of the Turks. At that time, Tomaš’s brother Radivoj was the fortress commander, and as the legend says:

In olden days, as people say, the royal family resided inside of the Kreševo fortress. On Meoršje, the mountain on the south-eastern side of Kreševo, the King would thresh his own grain. After measuring the distance between the town and the aforementioned mountain, the Queen, wearing golden wooden slippers (nanule), would walk towards the King holding her son in one hand and warm pilav – the lunch for the King – in another hand.

The following legend is related to the Turkish invasion of the fortress at Bedem:

It is said that during the Turkish invasion of the Kreševo fortress, the people living in the gorges of the Kojsinićica and Vranjanka rivers surrounding the fortress, laid out thick hide. In doing so, they stopped both of the nearby streams. When the enemy approached the town, its citizens removed the hides they placed in the rivers and thus released gushing water, which drowned the enemy soldiers.[hr]

The next legend says:

During the occupation of Bosnia, Duke Radivoj (Tomaš’s brother) living in Kreševo was also the fortress commander. Reaching Bosnia, the Turkish Prince settled in the northern part of town, in the place called Carevišće, which is only one hour away from the town, and so, he rained down heavy fire upon the town. People say that the Prince had been trying to take over the town for seven years, unsuccessfully. At that time the Duke ran out of food supplies and džebana (war equipment), which forced him to launch a final assault. He then made the decision to load a donkey full of his remaining rice and placed the donkey inside of a cannon. He fired the donkey toward his enemies, who cut it open, finding loads of rice, the rice they arduously desired. And there it is: the Bosniaks flouted this event in a celebratory manner. This greatly angered the Turks and drove them to desperation; they decided to retreat and stop the siege of the town, when all of a sudden, a toothless old woman came to the Turkish army, telling them that the launch of the donkey was the final attempt made by the Duke. Upon hearing this, the Prince instantly turned back, occupied the town, and enslaved the Duke.

According to one written document from folk traditions, Queen Katarina yielded to the wishes of the Bosnian lords and finally set off to Rome from Kozlo:

She hesitated so much with her seventy horsemen that the Bosnians created a monument, containing four horseshoes carved into stone and a small hole that the Queen had hollowed out with a stick.

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